Ive spent six years bass fishing, each of which I've become progressively more obsessed. Four were spent off the bank with a few trips out on a raft that popped after 1 summer, and 2 from a Scanoe and a 1974 Glastron Tri-hull.

 

Well this Spring I finally bought my first real Bass Boat. It's a 96 Tracker Pro Team in immaculate condition, even the trailer looks like it just came off the dealer lot. It came with the factory 37lb trolling motor, so I swapped it out for my MK 55lb powerdrive and added a battery to the back hatch. All I need to do now is buy a decent fishfinder for the deck. I don't wanna waste time putting holes in the boat just to mount my cheesy Humminbird 170. It came with a 4 stroke 9.9 Merc Tracker & built in gas tank. Since I live in NJ, and fish tournaments this is the perfect setup for now. It even has an inlet for a tiller arm, so when I get some more $$$$ I'm gonna upgrade to a 40 or 50hp Merc, and put the 9.9 on a kicker bracket.

 

I fished a Tournament last weekend and a guy pulled up in an 06 Tracker PT, I swear mine looked like the 06 and his looked like the 96!

 

It certainly is a clean machine.  Congratulations, and may she serve you well for years to come.  Have fun.

nice ride Christian,enjoy

Congrats! May she bring you a lot of successful fishing outings.

Sweet! You'll love it!

It certainly is a clean machine.  Congratulations, and may she serve you well for years to come.  Have fun.

 

+1    Enjoy!

Looks clean. Congrats

It certainly is a clean machine.  Congratulations, and may she serve you well for years to come.  Have fun.

 

+1    Enjoy!

 

Indeed.  That's a very nice looking boat. 

congrats on the boat!

 

I love fishing on the water, i fished out of my old man's two man boat until i upgraded my self.

 

Just something about being on the water vs the bank.

Nice!!  After adding new sonar the next thing is to add IPilot to the MK Powerdrive!!!  There is always something more to spend your money on!! 

Very Nice! Congrats!  You know what BOAT stands for dont ya. BOAT = Bust out another thousand

 

Nice!!  After adding new sonar the next thing is to add IPilot to the MK Powerdrive!!!  There is always something more to spend your money on!! 

Looks as if you did really well. Nice looking ride. Congradulations.

Thank you Gentlemen! I got this boat at a great price, the seller was asking $3200, I got him down to $2800. I think I could have gotten her for a bit less, but the seller was a really nice guy, & he was the original owner.

 

Yea I've heard the old saying "Break Out Another Thousand", I've also heard that the only hobby more expensive than fishing & boating, is flying.

 

Now I'm hoping to get a buyer for my Trihull. I just finished swapping out electric motors & cleaning her all up, I'm gonna go buy a for sale sign today. Hopefully that will provide the funds for the fishfinder.

 

I don't fish big water so I have no need for GPS at the moment. I'm thinking about a Humminbird 571HdDi. From the research I've done so far, this seems like a good choice. I fish a lot of shallow lakes (4'-15' on average) so the standard sonar along with the HD seems like the right combination. I do have one reservoir that I fish a lot which gets down to 42 feet and has an average depth of 12 feet, so the HD DI will really come in handy there.

 

If any of you guys have any suggestions/advice, please share. I want to make the best investment possible.

Thank you Gentlemen! I got this boat at a great price, the seller was asking $3200, I got him down to $2800. I think I could have gotten her for a bit less, but the seller was a really nice guy, & he was the original owner.

 

Yea I've heard the old saying "Break Out Another Thousand", I've also heard that the only hobby more expensive than fishing & boating, is flying.

 

Now I'm hoping to get a buyer for my Trihull. I just finished swapping out electric motors & cleaning her all up, I'm gonna go buy a for sale sign today. Hopefully that will provide the funds for the fishfinder.

 

I don't fish big water so I have no need for GPS at the moment. I'm thinking about a Humminbird 571HdDi. From the research I've done so far, this seems like a good choice. I fish a lot of shallow lakes (4'-15' on average) so the standard sonar along with the HD seems like the right combination. I do have one reservoir that I fish a lot which gets down to 42 feet and has an average depth of 12 feet, so the HD DI will really come in handy there.

 

If any of you guys have any suggestions/advice, please share. I want to make the best investment possible.

 

Don't underestimate the value of the GPS, even on small waters.  You find a little lump, or a rock pile, or a small patch of vegetation that holds bass, and all you have to do is "mark" that spot.  Then you can go right to that spot  anytime you want. 

That baby is clean!

 

Don't know what the cost of the 571 is but I've got the 581i HD DI. It may be worth spending a little more.

 

No matter what you buy have fun!

Sweet Tracker....  My first boat was dang near the exact thing....

I looked at the black and white down image units in BPS for an hour. Im not sure if its just that it was run continuously or the lighting or what but I decided no go and bought a lowrance color.

 

You definitely wanna see sonar in person

Nice sled ,It will serve you well.Catch lots of fish with it .

Don't underestimate the value of the GPS, even on small waters.  You find a little lump, or a rock pile, or a small patch of vegetation that holds bass, and all you have to do is "mark" that spot.  Then you can go right to that spot  anytime you want. 

 

I agree.  GPS is very nice even if you fish smaller lakes. Especially if you are not hammering the bank.  It will allow you to follow contours, points, etc. Odds are that you will be taking that boat to some other lakes as well at some point and the mapping systems make fishing a new lake a lot easier.  For a small extra amount of money I would definitely get the GPS. 

Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it. After hearing voices of reason, I should go with the GPS. I do fish tournaments, and B@ssCrzy you're right, I'm already planning to take the boat out to new water. (Delaware River, Champlaine, Nocamixon, Hopatcong ect...)My budget is rather low, we'd be talking $400-$500 at best right now, so the question is what unit will give me the best bang for my buck? Should I be looking for a used unit??

 

I'm going to buy & mount the kicker bracket now. I have a 55lb transom mount MinnKota Edge & will really help on these dang electric lakes when running from spot to spot.

As a 2 time Tracker owner I think you did great. Good looking boat.

 

Consider Rhino's advise. Spend the extra money on GPS and you won't regret it.